California’s
solar industry has much to be thankful for in 2009. The Golden State’s
50,000+ solar customers have installed 500 megawatts of solar, enough to
replace an entire power plant. Program Administrators wish to thank all of
you for carrying the solar message! Happy Thanksgiving . . . Go Solar,
California!

CSI Program
Administrators encourage everyone to complete and submit outstanding CSI
applications as soon as possible to help ensure timely processing of the
application so that the rebate payment can be made in 2009 and qualifying
federal tax credits may be claimed.

On Thursday,
Dec. 3, the SolarTech Permitting and Installation Symposium will bring
solar photovoltaic (PV) system installers and integrators together with
building department representatives and policy makers to discuss best
practices for permitting and inspection processes. The meeting will be
held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Commonwealth Club headquarters, 595
Market St., San Francisco, CA (map).
Click here
to register for this event.

Hundreds of public
agencies located throughout the State of California won allocations
totaling $640 million for Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBs), the U.S.
Department of the Treasury announced recently. The California cities,
counties and school districts were awarded more than 80 percent of the
total $800 million in CREB allocations awarded nationwide. Nationally,
there were nearly 1,000 applications representing more than $3 billion in
requests, and it is significant that California public agencies were the
overwhelming majority of awarded requests. The CSI Program Administrators
estimate that these CREB allocations could result in as much as 100 MW of
new solar projects statewide.

The CREBs program is
administered through the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as part of the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and provides public
agencies with an opportunity to own renewable energy projects by issuing
tax-credit bonds that finance renewable energy projects for public
facilities. The public agencies do not have to pay the interest on the
bonds because the bondholders receive a tax credit in lieu of an interest
payment. The agencies will have to pay back the money they borrow, though
the idea is that they will use the money they save on energy bills to do
so.

A total of 192 projects
submitted by San Diego municipalities, school districts, universities and
a water district were awarded $154 million in CREBs allocations for the
San Diego region. If all the projects are built as solar, they would add
20 megawatts(MW) of solar power to the 50 MW now installed in San Diego
County.

With the
support of California Gov. Schwarzenegger, PG&E filed Advice Letter
3555-E to voluntarily raise the Net Energy Metering Cap to 3.5 percent of
its peak load of total interconnections to ensure the solar industry has
sufficient room for continued expansion. With the steady increase of
customers going solar, PG&E is projected to reach the current Net
Energy Metering cap by late 2011/early 2012, limiting capacity to only 2.5
percent of the peak load.

Net Energy
Metering provides solar customers the option to offset the cost of
electricity by receiving credit for excess generation from their system
and is one of the driving forces behind the growth of solar.

“This is a
welcome development that will help ensure that new solar customers can
make solar purchases with certainty that net metering service will be
available,” said CALSEIA Executive Director Sue Kateley. “On behalf of the
solar industry, we thank the governor and PG&E for their leadership
and look forward to continuing to collaborate on expanding the use of all
solar technologies.”

The Advice
Letter is pending CPUC approval before it will go into effect and is
subject to a mandatory 20-day comment periods.

CPUC Announces a
Statewide CSI-Thermal Program for Solar Water
Heating

The solar thermal industry received
great news as the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) recently
announced its proposed decision to implement a statewide solar thermal
rebate program. The Commission still needs to vote to adopt the proposed
decision and could vote on the decision at its Dec. 17 public meeting.

Solar thermal
is the technology used in solar water heating, one of the most energy
efficient uses of solar and, due to the limited size of a water heating
system, less expensive than PV electric systems.

The proposed
CSI-Thermal Program would start accepting applications on April 1, 2010,
and run through Dec. 31, 2017. Some $300 million are allocated to
incentives, which will be offered to home and business owners that heat
water with either electricity or natural gas and are customers of
SDG&E, PG&E, Southern California Gas or Southern California
Edison. These utilities will serve as the program administrators, with the
California Center for Sustainable Energy administering the program in the
SDG&E service territory.

The program is
expected to install 200,000 systems by the end of 2017. The proposed
decision will go through the public review process before a final decision
will be made by the CPUC in December.

For more
information on the existing pilot program in San Diego that ends on Dec.
31, 2009, please contact swh@energycenter.org.

For more
information on the proposed decision of the CPUC, click here.

SB 32 (Negrete-McLeod)
– Small Renewables Feed-in-Tariff - program expansion. Increases the
maximum eligible system size for the Small Renewable Feed-in Tariff
program from 1.5 MW to 3 MW. This bill also requires the CPUC to adjust
the price of this tariff based on environmental attributes and also
increases the statewide program cap from 500 MW to 750 MW. Provisions in
the bill would also make certain CSI participants prior to 2010 eligible
for the tariff.

Even after an
influx of almost 1,800 residential applications during the move from Step
5 to Step 6 in August 2009, PG&E continues to receive a steady number
of Reservation Request Forms. Program Administrators (PAs) received
approximately 550 new applications in September followed by a slight
increase in October of more than 600 new applications. In the past, step
changes – which trigger reductions in incentive levels – have been
followed by a lag period in which applications were slow. “These
applications demonstrate that solar continues to grow in PG&E service
area, and throughout California, despite declining incentives,” says
PG&E Program Manager Andrew Yip.

According to
the recent CSI Staff Progress Report, average total costs for solar
systems have gone down by $0.30/watt, an outcome praised as one of the CSI
Program’s market transformation goals. “As more [solar] systems come
online we expect system prices to come down,” said CPUC’s DG/CSI Program
Supervisor Molly Sterkel. “This market transformation is the principle
behind the declining incentive design.”

Click here
for the Cost Trends Slides that were presented at the October 28 CSI
Program Forum.

Demand for
solar as an energy solution for affordable multitenant housing is growing,
as seen in the first year of the Multifamily Affordable Solar Housing
(MASH) Program. Currently, California Center for Sustainable Energy has
received $7,487,792 in funding requests for MASH Track 1 Incentives.
Approximately 50 percent of that was received on 11/17. This accounts for
95 percent of the total CCSE Track 1 budget. A total of $272,146 is
available for new applications.

Affordable
solar housing in PG&E territory has also been strong. By Oct. 26,
2009, the program in PG&E service area had received Track 1
applications in excess of the allotted $32.9 million. To handle over
subscription, all new incoming applications will be placed on a wait list
and funded through Track 1 attrition. Program Administrators at PG&E
ask customers to notify them if they have any reserved applications that
are no longer proceeding and need to be cancelled.

PG&E will
begin accepting Track 2 Grant Proposal applications in the first quarter
of 2010. A webinar on Multifamily Solar is scheduled for Thursday, Dec.
10. For more information, visit www.pge.com/solarclasses.
For more information on MASH in PG&E's service area, please contact solar@pge.com.

Please
note that all new applications (in CCSE territory) must be sent through
mail. Hand deliveries, faxes or emails will not be accepted. In
addition, please let us know if you have any applications currently in
queue that are no longer proceeding and need to be cancelled. For specific
information on the applications we have received please review the
application statistics at www.energycenter.org/mash.

A program
providing professional development and curricular support for instructors
of solar installation technologies in California has received nearly $3.5
million in funding from the Department of Energy (DOE). The California
Community Colleges, comprised of 110 colleges serving some 3 million
students, will work with CCSE, California Energy Commission and the Labor
Management Cooperation Committee (IBEW-NECA) to use the award for creating
a statewide standardized training curriculum and certification program for
solar photovoltaic (PV) and solar thermal (both heating and cooling). CCSE
will lead the solar thermal portion of this program.

The California
Solar Training Partnership is part of a nationwide DOE effort in
conjunction with the Departments of Labor and Education to increase solar
training programs, and ultimately, certified solar installers. Eight other
regional programs were funded for a total of $27 million, including $10
million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds.

The goals of
the training program are to accelerate market adoption of solar
technologies by ensuring that high-quality installations are standard and
to create sustainable jobs within the solar installation industry.

The California
program will provide training for trainers and curriculum resources for
community college faculty, regional occupational programs and high
schools. CCSE will be responsible for much of this educational material
development, organizing a community advisory committee and participating
in the National Consortium for Solar Installer Instructor Training. Click
here for more information. www.energy.ca.gov/greenjobs

With the
beginning of 2010 right around the corner, the CSI Program Administrators
(PAs) are guiding contractors toward the new electronic application
submission process.

Hailed as a
major step in streamlining the application process for CSI program users
and Administrators alike, the “PowerClerk-Only” process enables electronic
submission of documents previously required in hardcopy format. Users can
expect additional enhancements to PowerClerk in 2010, including an
attachment feature to allow users to submit documents electronically in
PDF format and an upload feature to populate data from third-party
software.

These efforts
are being made to ensure a streamlined California Solar Initiative
application process and an overall increase in consistency. In return,
applicants can reduce postal costs and always find all up-to-date CSI
forms in one location. Moreover, applicants and customers can expect
quicker application turnaround times.

Calling all installers and
solar system owners! This is a great opportunity to showcase your
CSI-funded solar projects. The California Solar Initiative Program seeks
photos of CSI-funded solar systems for use in future newsletters or other
CSI-related publicity. Photos can include completed solar PV systems,
shots of installations in progress or solar water heating installations.

Please provide the following when submitting your solar PV system,
solar water heating system or installation photos.

The CSI program is funded by
California investor-owned utility customers and administered by Southern
California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric, and the California Center
for Sustainable Energy under the auspices of the California Public
Utilities Commission.